Unit intelligence profile

Novorossiysk Naval Base

Subordinates: 1
Locations: 5

Profile summary

Assessment

Site ID

This location is the Russian Navy’s Novorossiysk naval base on Tsemess (Novorossiysk) Bay in Krasnodar Krai, subordinate to the Black Sea Fleet. CNA’s 2021 force study states that Russia began building the base as a hedge against possible future loss of Crimea basing access, and that the Black Sea Fleet uses Sevastopol and Novorossiysk as its two main Black Sea ports. ([cna.org](https://www.cna.org/reports/2021/08/Russian-Forces-in-the-Southern-Military-District.pdf))

Basing Infrastructure

Public Russian reporting from September 2014 described the submarine pier zone at Novorossiysk as sized for eight submarines, with seven planned for the base, and said the basing complex was to be fully completed by late 2016. The same reporting emphasized military sealift from Novorossiysk to Crimea and Syria and argued that submarine departures from Novorossiysk were more concealed than from Sevastopol. ([tass.ru](https://tass.ru/politika/1461108))

Resident Forces

Authoritative secondary analysis identifies Novorossiysk as the Black Sea Fleet’s main subsurface hub: CNA places there the 4th submarine brigade, the 136th counter-sabotage detachment, rescue and hydrographic elements, and the 184th water-area protection brigade. TASS’s Project 636.3 dossier ties the six Black Sea Fleet Improved Kilo boats to this basing program, and Russian fleet reporting states that B-261 Novorossiysk reached its permanent base there in September 2015 while B-237 Rostov-na-Donu returned to its permanent base at Novorossiysk in February 2022. ([cna.org](https://www.cna.org/reports/2021/08/Russian-Forces-in-the-Southern-Military-District.pdf))

Operational Role

Novorossiysk has become more than a secondary harbor. ISW assessed from satellite imagery and other reporting that, after Ukrainian strikes degraded Sevastopol’s usability, Russia shifted Black Sea Fleet surface combatants and submarines to Novorossiysk on an enduring basis and sought a more permanent eastern-Black-Sea basing pattern; ISW also assessed in April 2024 that Novorossiysk infrastructure had been improved enough to support cruise-missile loading there. ([understandingwar.org](https://www.understandingwar.org/backgrounder/ukrainian-strikes-have-changed-russian-naval-operations-black-sea?utm_source=openai))

Threats and Confidence

The base is operationally important but not a sanctuary: on 4 August 2023, Ukrainian sea-drone attacks damaged the landing ship Olenegorsky Gornyak near Novorossiysk, with Reuters/CNN/AP-linked reporting treating the strike as proof that mainland Black Sea Fleet basing remained vulnerable. In the high-confidence sources reviewed for this briefing, the submarine force and the 136th counter-sabotage detachment are clearly corroborated; I did not find equally strong independent confirmation for the placemark labels "1066th Technical Service Center" or "314th Rescue Ship Detachment," so those are treated as unverified here. ([kfgo.com](https://kfgo.com/2023/08/04/russian-navy-vessel-damaged-in-drone-attack-ukrainian-source/?utm_source=openai))

Command structure

Subordinate formations

184th Water Area Protection Brigade

170th Minesweeper Division

Intelligence briefRF forces

(Project 12660 minesweeper: Zheleznyakov 901), (Project 266ME minesweeper: Valentin Pikul 770, Vice-Admiral Zakharyin 908), (Project 21980 anti-sabouter ship: P-191 Kadet 840, P-349 Suvorovets 841 , P-350 Kursant Kirovets 842, P-355 Yunarmeyets Kryma 843, P-424 Kinel 837, P-433 844), (Project 11770 Serna landing craft: D-144 575, D-199 544), (Project 1176 Akula landing class: D-295 542, D-106 543), (Project 02510 BK-16 fast landing craft: D-296 677, D-309 655)

181st Anti-Submarine Ship Division

Intelligence briefRF forces

(Project 1124M Albatros-M corvette: Kasimov 055, Povorino 053, Yeysk 054), (Project 22160 Vasily Bykov patrol ship: Vasily Bykov 368, Dmitry Rogachev 375, Pavel Derzhavin 363, Sergey Kotov 383)

Geospatial index

Known places

4th Separate Submarine Brigade

Intelligence briefRF forces

military unit 95200, (Project 877 Paltus diesel submarine: B-871 Alrosa), (Project 636.3 Varshavyanka diesel submarine: B-261 Novorossiysk, B-237 Rostov-na-Donu, B-265 Krasnodar, B-268 Velikiy Novgorod, B-271 Kolpino)

4th Separate Submarine Brigade

Intelligence briefRF forces

136th PDSS Counteraction Special Purpose Detachment

Intelligence briefRF forces

military unit 75976

1066th Technical Service Center

Intelligence briefRF forces

military unit 06992